quadrille French · revision 15802

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1580, Brantôme|origins=la quadrus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ka.dʁij/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''quadrille''' ''m or f'' (plural quadrilles)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|es|cuadrilla|t=troop, team, company]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) recorded in Spanish from 1546 in these senses and earlier (13th century) for the division of an army into four parts to share the booty.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The Spanish word is formed from [[m|es|cuadro|t=square]], from [[la-lat|quadrus|t=square]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(FEW|2, 1405a) Rey glosses it as “a group of four” or “a quarter (of a hundred)”.^(DHLF 1992) [[it|quadriglia]] is also from Spanish.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Littré derived it from Italian and, after Ménage, from a diminutive of [[it|squadra|t=troop]];^(Littré 1873) the modern dictionaries follow the Spanish origin.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Brantôme uses it about 1580 in the feminine for a troop of fighters;^(TLFi) Cotgrave (1611) defines it as a squadron of about 25 soldiers, the quarter of a hundred.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From 1671 it named a troop of horsemen in a [[carrousel]], in which sense Madame de Sévigné uses it (1685).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In the 18th century it was used of one of the four groups of dancers in a contredanse (Saint-Simon), the gender now masculine,^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) and then (1780–1782) of the dance itself, which was fashionable in the 19th century;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) the familiar call ''en place pour le quadrille !'' “get ready!” comes from it.^(DHLF 1992) By metonymy it meant the music for the dance (1845).^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ In bullfighting it named a matador's team (1897), a sense in which Spanish ''cuadrilla'' has prevailed.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) At the Paris Opéra the first two grades of the corps de ballet are called ''quadrilles'' (1963).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1580 – A troop of fighters, in Brantôme.^(TLFi)

+ * 1611 – Cotgrave's “squadron of about 25 soldiers”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1671 – A troop of horsemen in a carrousel.^(TLFi)

+ * 1740–1755 – One of the groups of a contredanse, in Saint-Simon.^(TLFi)

+ * 1782 – The dance itself.^(TLFi)

+ * 1845 – The music of the dance.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1897 – A matador's team.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A square [[m|en|dance]] for an even number of couples, fashionable in the 19th century: ''le quadrille des lanciers''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # The set of couples dancing it; the music for it.^(Larousse)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # One of the first grades of the corps de [[m|en|ballet]] of the Paris Opéra.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # ''(historical, feminine)'' A troop of horsemen in a [[carrousel]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(bullfighting, dated)'' A matador's team, a [[m|en|cuadrilla]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[quadriller]]

+ * [[quadrillage]]

+ * [[carré]]

+ * [[en|quadrille]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A second ''quadrille'' (1722) was a card game, ombre for four players; it is borrowed from [[es|cuartillo]], from [[m|es|cuarto|t=fourth]], with its form altered by confusion with the dance word.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005) The embroidery term ''point de quadrille'' (1765) is from [[es|cuadrillo]].^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}